Graphic Design: Amazing Norwegian archive on show after 50 years in an attic!
People are always finding amazing things in attics; so much so that I always think I should spend a weekend rooting through my loft, but then I remember I live in a flat and don’t have an attic and get sad.
Anyway over in Norway the Oslo National Academy of the Arts has an attic in which they recently discovered an extraordinary graphic design archive forgotten for half a century. Rare journals, type catalogues, printing presses and 130 cases of type were discovered alongside letters between design luminaries like Jan Tschichold.
The collection is thought to be the work of design teacher Ivar Bell and is on show at the museum until the end of December. But thrillingly there is also a great website where you can immerse yourself in the archive, with excellent use of video to bring the haul to life. Get your geek on!
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Rob Alderson is a freelance writer, editor and strategist. He was previously editor-in-chief of It’s Nice That and WePresent, and editor of Design Week. He publishes the newsletter Undo, which tries to make sense of how AI is changing design work, the design process and the design industry.